Gessica A. Franco-Johannsen, PhD

PhD Candidate
Texas &M University

Mrs. Gessica Franco-Johannsen is a third year Physiology of Reproduction PhD candidate under the mentorship of Dr. Ky Pohler in the Texas A&M - Department of Animal Science. She received a B.S. in Veterinary Medicine from UFU, Brazil in 2015 and a M.S. in Animal Science and Statistics from UTK in 2018. Her major areas of research are understanding the male effect on pregnancy maintenance in beef cattle and developing markers to improve sire fertility evaluation. During her graduate career, Gessica has authored/coauthored 15 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 2 book chapters and 6 conference proceedings. She presented 23 conference abstracts including oral presentations at student competition at national and international meetings. Gessica collaborated in securing over $1.5 million in grants for Dr Pohler’s research program. Recently Gessica received the Tom Slick Graduate Research Fellowship in recognition of her exceptional student performance and the impact of her research outcomes on agriculture.